Most ‘Merican Summer Olympic Moments in the last 25 Years—Number 6

These days Americans are at each other’s throats about nearly everything. It’s exhausting. I think we can all agree that politicians mostly suck. And people killing other people that don’t deserve to be killed sucks even more. But do you know what doesn’t suck? The athletes of the US Olympic Team. So let’s take a two week break from insulting one another and trying to convince each other of who is screwing up America the most, in order to unify around the fine American’s competing in the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

I love the Summer Olympics—the pageantry, the patriotism, the pride. It’s a magical time where we can all get behind our nation’s finest athletes as they put their hearts and souls on the line in a moment they have been preparing for their entire lives. If you aren’t feeling nostalgic and eager to start the “U…S…A!!” chant just yet, allow me to recall my favorite, most ‘Merican, Summer Olympic moments from the last 25 years, starting from 6 to 1. For the full effect of what I’ve compiled here for you, make sure you read this article with enough time to relive the moments through the imbedded YouTube videos, because words will always fall short. So here we go, in chronological order starting from the 1992 games in Barcelona, Spain. Prepare for feelings of extreme patriotism.

1992 Olympics, Barcelona: The Men’s Basketball “Dream Team”

For decades prior to the ’92 Olympics, the U.S. Basketball team had been able to easily clench the gold medal using just college players. The professionals stayed away to avoid injury in the NBA’s off season and enjoy their summers vacations. However in the 80s, a few countries had started to catch up and knock the American team off the top of the podium. Obviously this was unacceptable on would not be tolerated any longer. In response, these NBA superstars, eleven of them “Hall-of-Famers,” came together to form the first ever “Dream Team.” The statement they made during the ’92 Games was clear as they easily dispatched the other teams from around the world by an average of 45 points per game. “Basketball is an American sport. Nobody else is even close.” It was divine and quite possibly a “once in a lifetime” opportunity to see the greatest assembly of basketball talent ever assembled into one team.